Beautiful, Wonderful Phenomenon
by Maddeline Kirkland-Bonnefoy
Summary: - Zero decides he has a bone to pick with Evelyn; she decides to toy with him, until he says something stupid. Hanabusa watches, and can't help thinking he fell for a beautiful, wonderful phenomenon. - Rated for language and my paranoia; Hanabusa/OC.


**Not much to say, as with my previous Vampire Knight one-shot, this is for Koneko. As per usual, it mostly follows the anime timeline.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine; Evelyn belongs to Koneko.**

**Warning(s): Het. Mentioned yaoi. Possibly OOC Zero. My attempt at writing Zero. No Yuuki bashing. Slight cursing, sort of.**

* * *

The screams of over-zealous fangirls (and fanboys; no need to pretend that the gay community didn't exist, or that the ladies didn't have their own admirers) permeated the air like so much moisture after a rain, and the pale, petite blonde couldn't help but chuckle, a small, wry smile on her lips. She didn't begrudge them, even if a good portion of them were entertaining lascivious thoughts about, and throwing themselves at, someone she had already formed a relationship with. No, it was more like she found them amusing in the way a cat found a mouse amusing; even if it were not in her nature, she knew that, had circumstances been different, she could easily have been among them. Her expression evened out, becoming placid and almost cold, as she braced herself back against a tree, her ice-blue gaze falling upon the male member of the Disciplinary Committee, Kiryuu Zero. A thin, pale pink lip curled; that boy… It wasn't that she hated him, or even really disliked him, but she disliked what he believed, how he was so pigheadedly stubborn, and how much of a hypocrite he was. They might have even been friends, if he had been willing to look at things even a little bit differently.

The blonde's thoughts were interrupted, when the screaming of the girls increased in pitch, and the sound of the heavy, metal doors opening reached her ears. Her expression smoothed once more, as she all but subconsciously ran a hand through her just-longer-than-shoulder-length pale blonde hair. She wasn't vain by nature, but everyone wanted to look good for the one they loved – because, after all, she _understood_ far better than her classmates, and would never have been stupid enough to presume that he couldn't see her. Not even before she had been made aware of what he really was. As such, even as he engaged in his usual flirtatious and over-the-top routine, two sets of icy blue eyes connected over the heads of the throng of girls. Tossing him a small, equally intentionally and unintentionally coy smile, she moved away from the tree, brushed off the ebony skirt of her uniform, turned, and left. They would speak later; for now, he needed to be at class, and she had homework to do.

* * *

She would always do her homework in the same place, in the empty courtyard where the fountain was. Normally, she was the kind of person who craved a certain level of social interaction – she wasn't on the Girls Soccer team and part of the theater "Company" for nothing, after all – but at times like these, she relished in the silence that was broken only by the sound of the water. Sometimes, she would even pause in her work to gaze at the water, and wonder what sort of shapes and sculptures he could create out of the liquid, or rather the solid it became under his will, and with such little effort as well. And at times, as she was gazing, she could forget the entire world, completely lost in fantasies of what he could create with merely water and his will. Of course, she couldn't always block everything out, and though there were times when she didn't want to, lest she not hear him trying to sneak up on her… there were times when she wished she could just let the world inside her head swallow her.

"You're disgusting, Steele."

Much like now.

And yet, even if she did take offence to the comment, she remained calm. Had it been anything more (anything actually hurtful) from anyone else (anyone she actually cared to hear the opinion of) she might have bristled, but not from that, and not from him. Not from those words from Kiryuu Zero, of all people. As such, her response was cool and calculated to reflect this. "And you, Kiryuu-kun, are a hypocrite." She paused in speaking for a moment, to close her text book and look up, never moving from her place seated on the wide lip of the fountain, as cool blue met incensed lilac.

She almost smirked. Zero was so easy to work up, it was laughable.

"At least I don't flaunt the disgusting feelings," the pale ex-Human snarled, either unaware or uncaring that he had stepped right into her trap.

This time she did smirk, though her icy eyes remained cool and unemotional. "Oh? So you _don't_ deny your feelings for Kuran-sempai?" she questioned slyly. "I'd have thought it would be much harder to pry out of you, given how much you _despise_ Vampires and those that associate with them…"

He reacted exactly the way she had expected him to, snapping his response like the easily riled little boy he tried to pretend he wasn't. "So what does it matter?! I'll still kill him and every other blood-sucking monster – "

"Even your beloved Yuuki-chan?"

She may not have outwardly reacted, beyond smirking a bit more, but inwardly she was laughing as much as her boyfriend was wont to do. The silverette's expression was just too much; he seemed to be slack-jawed with pure _rage_. The petite blonde couldn't have said why she found this so funny, but she did. However, her mirth was cut short, as it seemed that the would-be Vampire Hunter had regained himself. It had happened quicker than she had expected, and had his words not finally elicited a reaction from her, she _might_ have admitted a bit of respect for how quickly he had pulled himself back together.

"Yes, even Yuuki. And maybe, I'll start with your man-whore of a boy-toy."

When she moved, he might have almost have mistaken her for a Vampire, she moved so fast, face-to-face with him in the blink of an eye. (Not that he would know it, but there was a good bit of Hunter blood in her family tree, hence her speed when she needed/wanted it, and her slightly above average strength. Thankfully, the prejudices had been bred out, but the slight benefits remained.) And yet, for some reason, he found that her gaze was menacing enough as it was; it didn't need the scarlet hue of an enraged creature of the night. Not that he would ever have admitted to fearing her, of course, simply because he _didn't_ – she could just be really, _really_ scary at times.

"…What did you say…?" The words came slowly, carefully measured and hissed in a dangerously soft, deadly calm voice. A sane person would have shut the hell up and run. A smart person would have apologized and hoped they wouldn't get hit. And yet, Zero was Zero, and well… he had moments were he was neither smart, nor sane. This happened to be one of them.

"What are you, deaf, Evelyn?! I _said_ I'll start with your _man-whore_ of a _boy-toy_."

"…That's what I thought you said."

He really should have run, was all he managed to think, when her sharp, boney knee connected _very hard_ with something _very important_, and her powerful and skilled foot connected with his shin in equal strength on the way up. Collecting her things, she turned to leave, but thought better of it for a moment. Turning only her head so she could look at the crumpled, seething Level D, she snipped, "And don't call me Evelyn. We are not friends, and I do not like you even one bit." That said, she faced forward once more, and left. She – Evelyn – walked in silence for a few moments, before she smiled, as clapping reached her ears. Turning her gaze to the trees beside her, her smile almost became a grin, as the Ice Master appeared and seemed to sap her of her previously icy demeanor.

"That was quite the performance," Hanabusa smirked, casually but possessively slipping an arm about her waist as he did so. "But tell me, where did you learn to react like that?" They both knew it wasn't inherently in her nature, so he, ever the scientist, was curious beyond words about this phenomenon he had fallen in love with.

Evelyn's answering smirk was just a touch catty. "I learned from the best, of course."

The male blonde laughed softly at her response. No verbal replies were needed, as they both knew how protective of and loyal to Kaname he was. Had anyone said the same or similar about the Pureblood Prince, they would have found themselves in an icy Hell before they could even blink. And yet still, he chose to say, "Yes, well, you are quite the student, if I do say so myself."

A subtle change came over her smirk. "Hm… I'm a good student, am I?" She didn't wait for confirmation; she knew it. "Well then, Aidou-sempai, we'll just need to find out what else you've taught me, won't we?"

"Oh?" As always, she fascinated him more than anyone he had ever met, and he wished to know everything about her. That said, when she pinned him to the nearest tree, her school books allowed to fall to the flagstone path, and kissed him hard, he was even more pleasantly surprised than ever.

Yes, she was quite the wonderful, beautiful phenomenon indeed.


End file.
